Return to Wasteland
by The Crobatman
Summary: Mickey's return to Wasteland...  He thought he had saved it from its greatest threat, so did everyone else...  But what he did was quite the oppossite, and no one knows that... yet.


You have all heard the tale of how Mickey Mouse, my apprentice, found the world of Wasteland. How he bravely faced his past, dark, mistake... and overcame it, even befriending the one person who despised him most, his own brother, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Mickey saved Wasteland from the terrors of the Shadow Blot, a monster made of both Magic Paint and Thinner. Mickey restored it to it's former glory through his amazing abilities to remain constant in the face of his adversaries and past co-workers, remaining optimistic in all situations as only Mickey Mouse could. However, I made absolutely sure Mickey could not return to Wasteland afterwards... Why you ask? Because it was because of his mischievous antics many years prior in my workshop that caused the great thinner disaster and creation of the Shadow Blot. I made certain that Mickey would never make any more mischief in my workshop...Then again... He IS Mickey Mouse.

**Chapter 1: Oswald Returns**

Mickey sat on the edge of his bed, staring at his hands as they dripped a black liquid into the air, the drips always disappeared before they floated too far, "I hoped the dripping would have stopped by now..." Said Mickey as he sidled up to his mirror. He thought to himself, "It's been weeks since I left Wasteland... I look in the mirror all the time, hoping to see Oswald and Ortensia waving at me from their happy home..."

Mickey's shoulders drooped as he stared at his reflection. "But all I ever see is a drippy mouse."

Just then he heard a knock at his door, Mickey panicked as he jumped for his bathroom, he opened up a can of hairspray and sprayed it all over his body, ears to tail. "Its a lucky thing this stuff keeps paint from running, or I'd be sunk!"

He opened the door and saw his girlfriend, Minnie standing there. "Hey Mickey! Is everything alright?" She asked sweetly, "Well gosh Minnie, things are great! Why?" Asked Mickey, faking a smile. "Well, it's just that you have been cooped up in your house so much lately we all barely see you! Goofy and Donald are worried sick, and so am I... Is something wrong Mickey?"

Minnie asked, grabbing Mickey's hand gently.

"No, everything's fine Minnie! Absolutely fantastic! Bye-bye!"

Mickey said quickly as he shut the door on her. He looked at his arm and realized he had sweated through the spray and began dripping again. "Gosh... I hope Minnie can forgive me for that... But she's worried enough without me dripping ink blots everywhere..." Saying the word 'Blot' gave him chills, thinking about how he almost wasn't able to come back to the real world.

That night, Mickey lay asleep in his bed, dreams of dripping ink and thinner haunting him, the blot's final howl rang in his ears. He felt a light tap on his nose, he slowly opened up his eyes to see a white face with black eyes and nose staring at him. "Wha-? Who's there?" He said, getting up and seeing a look-alike of himself standing at the foot of his bed. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he saw his older half-brother, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit there waving at him. "OSWALD!" Mickey exclaimed, jumping from his bed and hugging his older brother tightly, tackling him. "Hey! Not so loud! You'll wake people up!"

Said Oswald as Mickey let go.

"What are you doing here Oswald? I thought characters without hearts couldn't leave wasteland!" Mickey inquired of him. "They can't!" Oswald grabbed Mickey's gloved hand and put it on his little, furry, black chest. He felt a warmth inside his older brother that was very similar to his own heart's warmth, he felt a steady beat as he pulled his hand away. "Oswald! Your heart! It's back!"

"Yeah! It happened a few days after you left Wasteland! I woke up one morning and felt something I hadnt felt in a long time, I knew at once what had happened! People have started to remember me haven't they?" Oswald asked him, "I think so, yeah! I told a lot of people about you!"

Oswald hugged his little brother tightly. "Aw Mick! You ARE the greatest!"

Mickey Smiled and asked, "So, are Ortensia, Gus, and the others comin' too?" Oswald frowned and looked to the ground, "No."

Mickey put his hand on Oswald's shoulder. "Gosh, I'm sorry, I coulda sworn I told everyone about them..."

"Eh, it's okay... OH NO!"

"What's wrong Oswald?"

Before Mickey realized what was going on, Oswald grabbed him by the hand and pulled him back thru the mirror.

"Oswald! What are you doing? What's wrong?"

Mickey said as they rounded the corner to Yen Sid's workshop, where the old wizard was waiting for them. "Oswald, I told you not to whither away your time, you know if you stay out too long they'll take over."

"They who?" Asked Mickey.

"There is no time to explain, Oswald made sure of that."

The Rabbit's ears drooped sadly, "Alright, let's go Mickey..."

"Go? To Wasteland?"

Mickey was very confused, "Why would you go back Oswald? Isn't staying here all you ever wanted?"

"There are more important things than being a star... You taught me that."

With those words, Oswald grabbed Mickey and jumped straight into Yen Sid's model of Wasteland.

Mickey felt himself hit the ground in wasteland, he opened his eyes to see Oswald holding two magic paintbrushes, one colored Blue with Green stripes, the other, Green with Blue stripes. Mickey rubbed his head as he took one of them, "Gosh, I was out cold last time I hit the dirt here..."

"Well it's a good thing you're not now!" Oswald turned around and stared into the distance, Mickey suddenly realized where they were. He looked around and saw tall, brightly-colored buildings, and a familiar town hall, emporium, fire station, museum and other things. "Mean Street! Gosh things look great here! It's so much brighter than it was before!" Mickey followed Oswald's gaze and saw him looking straight up into the distant sky. A black cloud was floating there, and it was dripping something. Mickey could sense that it wasn't rain. "Oswald... What is that thing?"

"That's one of the Mad Doctor's creations, a thinner cloud, he releases them and they thin everything underneath them until they run out of the stuff, then 'poof' they disappear and the Mad Doctor makes another one."

Mickey grimaced at that statement. "So the Mad Doctor's still around huh?"

"Yep"

"Golly, if the thinner clouds are around, why is there still so much paint around here?"

Oswald pointed to the Blue-and-Green brush Mickey held in his hand. "These brushes are upgraded versions of the brush you came here with. Not only do they spray paint and thinner..."

Oswald thinned out the side of a building with his Green-and-blue brush, "... They can shower it!" Oswald held his brush straight up, and launched a massive wave of paint, which went straight into the sky and destroyed the thinner cloud above Mean Street, releasing a shower of paint, rather than the alternative.

"Wow! That's great! So... Whadaya need me here for? You look like you have it all under control!"

Oswald walked Mickey into Horace Horsecollar investigations, "Hey Horace, ya got any news?"

Oswald asked the horse, who was in front of a massive computer monitor, which made Mickey feel smaller than he already was.

"Yeah, all of it bad..." Horace turned around and his face lit up with a smile, "Mickey! You're back!"

"Hiya Horace! It's great to see ya!"

"A-hem, can we keep to business please guys?"

"Er- Right, I got word from Tomorrow City, poor Animatronic Max has been Beetleworx Bugged..."


End file.
